For me this year’s snakehead fishing has been slow but many of my fellow anglers have had really good snakehead catches, 13 and 16 lb fish. Huge! When I have of their photos I will post them for you all. Most days I manage to catch 3 or 4 average fish 20″ to 28″ weighing between 2 and 8 lbs. The video below has some nice footage of a 2 and 4 pounder, explosive bites. The bass have been biting in the early mornings and just before dark when it cools down. I have not been out in the “big” river so I can’t say what they are doing there. I just love the snakehead fishing action and am addicted! They fight lke a fish twice as big as they are (like bluefish in the surf) so I almost always go for them.
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Keep the line wet!
Dr Demetrios Kydonieus, Chiropractor and outdoor enthusiast!
I was scouting for a Bass Fishing Tournament this Sunday and headed to Aquia out of Hope Springs Marina. It was a sunny day started at 3 pm and fished until dark. There was a slight northeasterly wind but a great day to kayak fish. I headed around the entire bay area across from the marina fishing the shores and got a few nice 2-3 lb. largemouths on chatterbaits and crawfish jigs (that short video is coming). No snakeheads in in the clear water.
So then I headed to the lillies… Worked the inner channles between the large lillies that went out into the main water and the tall grass swampy banks that go back for 100 yards or more and are unfishable even in a kayak. These shallow sideline channels are where I have been finding snakeheads this year. No action in the open water or even the edges of the big lilly patches that border the “big water” which were good last year. The smaller channels and little lilly lined “smaller” rivers is where I am getting bit. This 9.52 pounder (thought it was closer to 15 lbs. but the scale said different) faught hard and pulled my kayak as I reeled him in.
Snakehead caught in Aquia Creek July 12, 2016. 9.52 lbs well over 30 inches.
Sight fishing for snakeheads is one of the best ways to catch them as their numbers are way down now compared to years past. Seeing the serpentine ripples that slowly ungelate through the back channels can get you a nice one. It is hard to see the ripple in this video as there is no zoom on my Ion Air Pro 3 which takes these nice HD videos so you have to squint a bit. But if you look hard right as it starts before I cast you can you see what I saw just before I through the Stanley top water frog at him.
On an ecological note, the bass population seems fine I am catching nice ones and some days I catch bass and no snakeheads! I definately see a drastic decline in the Potomac River snakehead population compared to previous years. At Pohick Creek up by Mason Neck(I hate the I-95 traffic to get there but try it once or twice a season) I got one small one just as I was paddlng back to the ramp on July 1, 2016 and it looked like perfect snakehead territory. I spoke with a local bass/snakehead kayaker that I ran into who said the bow fisherman are out in numbers every weekend shooting everything they see, 10-20 boats! Ah Northern Virginia so calm and “not crowded”, that is why I live down here by Charlottesville and head southwest or up a mountain whenever I can! But I digress…. So us rod and reel guys are not seeing big snakehead catches like years past because the bow guys are killing ’em fast and the years past of catching 10 and 20 fish in one day and keeping them is showing up now. Many days this summer I have not caught any snakeheads which is unusual compared to years past. So I have released all my snakeheads this year and most of the ones I caught last year. I want to see and hook more of them when I go and big ones like this one. Now I know Virginia/Maryland Wildlife said, “They’ll mess up the enviornment and eat all the local fish…” just not true. Have snakeheads had an impact on the ecosystem, sure but the bass, perch and crappie seem to be balancing out just fine. I am catching more big bass this year than last so things are working out. I just want to catch more snakeheads though. Nothing fights as hard or does so much acrobatic leaps in fresh water as a snakehead. So keep one or two big ones for the frying pan as they are the best eating fish out there but release the rest for someone else to catch and enjoy.
Dr. D, Chiropractic Nutritionist and Snakehead Enthusiast!
Snakeheads in the Potomac Creek and Aquia Creeks Are Out and Biting!
10 lb Female Snakehead on a 5″ bubblegum swimbait2 nice ones, about 10 and 8 lbs almost 30″
Now they have come out of hiding, the grass beds at low tide on the creek last week is where they were, stacked! I ran over a bunch as I kayaked up the grass edge. A change from the week before when they were in the lillies and large expanses of water plants that grow above the water while they swam in between the stems. Now there were some in those big lilly expanses but most were out in grass at low tide. I found the incoming tide better than the outgoing and things slowed down dramatically at high tide, even in the lilly fields. But after 9 hours on the water I landed 9 nice ones 5 of which were 6-10lbs and 4 smaller ones. And the largemouths, bigs ones were hitting at the end of the day, 4-7 lbs!
Here is one I caught two days later on the bass boat. Only had 4 snakeheads that day. But over all they have really picked up, saw 3 pods of babies being guarded by mom and dad but they weren’t biting anything just hanging by the “kids”.
a nice 6lb largemouth on a floatin Toad top water
Other anglers on the water that day were having success too. Jason here had a nice 10+ pounder that did a lot of jumping as he fought to get him to his kayak. Way to go Jason!
May 5, 2015 – 7lbs. Potamac Creek, 8 pm on a white Ribbetts Floatin Toad
Let’s go fishin’ and maybe win $1,500.00 prize money! Well Maryland Wildlife is holding their anual Snakehead Fishing Tournament May 30, 2015 6 pm to May 31, 2015 12:30 pm. No age restrictions just have your Maryland, Virginia, or DC fishing license and you’re set!
Read more here and don’t forget to post your catch totals here afterwards!
Wow what a long and COLD winter it has been here in Virginia but now it is finally warming up! Can’t wait to get out on the water next week and find some snakeheads! They should be out of the mud and moving around a bit now that the water is above 40 degrees. I would recommend noisy deep water divers for now. Rattle Traps, large ones and bright colors over dark. Orange deep diving rattle bugs are my favorite for now. But cannot wait for the water to warm up more and hit the top water frogs!
Nothing fights better in freshwater than a Snakehead!
